Hyżne | Subcarpathian Voivodeship

/ Stanisław W., born in 1931: “There were quite a few Jews in Hyżne. A Jewish man by the name of Mordka was a trader. He bought a hen, for example, and thanks to that, a farmer could have money to buy oil."©Piotr Malec/Yahad - In Unum Helena D., born in 1928: “One day, the Germans arrived by car to pick up the Jews from Hyżne and took them away. They did not shoot them on the spot, but I do not know where they were deported to, probably to a ghetto.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad-In Unum Bronisława G., born in 1930: “People passed on the news that the Jews were going to be deported to the ghetto. A policeman in the navy police had a Jewish wife. She came to my mother and ask where she could hide."©Piotr Malec/Yahad - In Unum Stanisław W., born in 1931: “The gathering of the Jews took place in the summer, on the road that comes from Rzeszów. The Germans and Polish civilians drove the Jews out of their homes. They were put on covered trucks and deported.”©Piotr Malec/Yahad - In Helena D., born in 1928: “My mother told me that several Jews were shot on the “Małkówka” hill. There were some bushes and trees and small hills where they would hide as a child.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad - In Unum Helena D., born in 1928: “A few Jews hid with the Herr family. The Germans suspected them of hiding Jews, but they never found any Jews in the house, otherwise the entire Herr family would have been killed."©Piotr Malec/Yahad - In Unum Stanisław W., born in 1931: “One day, when I was walking near “Małkówka” hill, a saw two Germans with two Jewish women. Then I heard two shots. I got scared and ran away.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad - In Unum Stanisław’s son took the Yahad team to “Małkówka” hill, the execution site and mass grave of at least three Jews killed in Hyżne. After the war, there was a brickyard there. According to local accounts, people found human remains there. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad The “Małkówka” hill, the execution site and mass grave of at least three Jews killed in Hyżne during the German occupation. Today the site is overgrown with vegetation. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad - In Unum

Execution of Jews in Hyżne

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Hill called “Małkówka”
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
At least 3

Witness interview

Helena D., born in 1928: “Before the war, there were a few Jewish families living in Hyżne. A Jew named Wałek used to live on the hill commonly known as “Cyganówka”. He owned a store. Another one was called Lolek, and there was also a Jewish woman, a seamstress. Other Jewish names I remember are: Sznel, Mantel, Berko. The latter had figs and after school, other children and I went to buy figs from him. There was also a Jewish man who had a radio in his house. Everyone went to his house to listen to the radio. I don’t remember his name or what happened to him, but I recall that he took care of the local public baths. People came to his house to bathe. The Jews didn’t have a synagogue or house of prayer in Hyżne. They had to go to Tyczyn, located 12 km away, in the direction of Rzeszów, where there was a synagogue as well as a Jewish cemetery. There were many Jews in Tyczyn. Jewish and non-Jewish children went to school together. During religious classes, sometimes the Jewish children went out, but they could also stay and attend the class, it did not bother the priest.” (Witness N°1380P, interviewed in Nieborów, on September 23, 2022)

Historical note

Hyżne is a village in Poland, seat of the gmina of Hyżne, located in the powiat of Rzeszów in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It is located about 22 km southeast of the capital of the region, Rzeszów. Not much is known about the prewar Jewish community from Hyżne. At the end of the 19th century, the village had 113 houses and 727 inhabitants, including 34 Jews. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, several Jewish families lived in the village. They were mainly involved in handicraft and small trade. The Mantel family had a shop in which local inhabitants would buy essential products. Another Jewish family from Hyżne were Herszko, Frydek and Mirka Stelzer and their parents.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Hyżne was occupied by German troops in September 1939.  In the first half of 1942, an order was issued to relocate the Jews to the ghetto in Jawornik Polski. Only young Jews were left behind, in order to work on a local estate for the benefit of the Third Reich. Jews from Hyżne and neighboring villages who avoided the deportation were successively caught and shot in many different localities. One of them was a hill in Hyżne, commonly called “Małkówka”. Many Poles were also executed at the same site. The number of victims killed and buried at this location remains unknown. After the war, a brickyard was built at the site. According to villagers, people who went there to collect sand would sometimes find human remains. Today, the “Małkówka” hill is overgrown with vegetation and remains without any memorial commemorating the victims. When the Nazis began deporting Jews from Hyżne, some non-Jewish inhabitants began helping the Jews. Such was the case of the Herr family, a family of Catholic farmers, who decided to take action to try to save some of their Jewish neighbors. Worth mentioning is the story of the Herr family from Hyżne, who, risking their own lives, helped their Jewish neighbors: Hersz, Frydek and Mirka from the Stelzer family. In recognition of their heroic actions, the Herr family from Hyżne was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

 

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